Here is yet another story of a guy that is passing on MLS who just finished up college. Now former Duke forward Mike Grella passed at signing a MLS contract to look elsewhere for work. Obviously rookie salary wasn’t going to cut it for Grella (and who can blame him).

Instead he is trying to land his feet in England. Grella is on trial with Leeds United, and scored three goals in Leeds’ reserve match against Barnsley on yesterday. Leeds plays in League 1, the English third division.

Some will ask how Grella is able to play for a club in England if he hasn’t appeared for the US National team any…well it is simple, Grella holds an Italian passport. He is free to sign with the English club, and his Italian passport will allow him to sign anywhere in Europe he can secure a contract.

Toronto FC, the club who drafted Grella in last week’s MLS SuperDraft has been made aware of Grella’s situation in Europe. More than likely they drafted Grella to secure his rights for two years.

Still, it is a shame the league couldn’t sign a player like Grella but as we all know until the average rookie salary goes up from the pathetic number that it is now guys will continue to pursue this path. I hope nothing but the best for Grella though in Europe. Hopefully he can produce well and get plenty of PT.

Maryland's Jeremy Hall is one of nine players signed on as a Generation adidas player. (Getty Images)

A few surprises today with the Generation adidas class and MLS Combine rosters being announced. The GA list went out without a hitch from what we discussed yesterday but a couple players were missing from the Combine list that the league ended up missing out on.

Both Marcus Tracey (Wake Forest) and Mike Grella (Duke) have opted not to sign with MLS and instead will look at offers from European clubs. There is still time for the two to sign before next week’s draft but if they don’t this draft class will have taken a big dent with those losses.

As for the GA list, the nine we discussed yesterday were announced today. There is still an outside chance another name could be added to this list but I still doubt that will happen in time.

• Steve Zakuani
• Omar Gonzalez
• Rodney Wallace
• Jeremy Hall
• Baggio Husidic
• Kevin Alston
• Stefan Frei
• Peri Marosevic
• Daniel Cruz

Now as for the Combine information, below is the list of rosters as well as game times for those in the area. Miami fans, you claim to want a team so bad right now…if I were you I’d show up in full force as these games are open to the public. Show your support for the league’s future here, plus it may help get some more people behind you if you do indeed show up for this event. (sorry for the rant, I just couldn’t help it here) Continue Reading…